Ayele Shakur

Ayele Shakur became BUILD – Greater Boston’s first Regional Executive Director in December 2010, and bears primary responsibility for launching and growing the program in the Northeast Region. BUILD is an innovative, college access program, whose mission is to use entrepreneurship to excite and propel disengaged, low-income high school students to college and career success. Ayele brings over two decades of experience as an innovator in urban education. Prior to coming to BUILD, she served as the President and CEO of the Boston Learning Center for 15 years. Under her leadership, the Center expanded from serving 100 students annually in Boston to 700 students across the state of Massachusetts. A veteran classroom teacher, Ayele taught for eleven years in the Los Angeles area and in the Boston Public Schools, and co-authored the book Boost School Performance – A Parent’s Guide to Better Grades Fast. Ayele is the recipient of the 2012 Boston Celtics Heroes Among Us Award, and the 2007 Nan Bennett Kay Great Friend to Kids Award presented by the Boston Children’s Museum. In 2014, she was appointed as Chair of the Education Committee for the Boston NAACP. In 2015, she was appointed by the Boston School Committee to co-chair the Achievement Gap Task Force for the Boston Public Schools. A native of Boston, she holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management from Boston University and a Master’s Degree in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.